In a week where disruption, anger and angst was caused amongst the capital's commuters after the much maligned London Underground strike, I found myself far more aggrieved with an advertisement that adorned the district line carriage than I did with the overcrowded train taking me to Wapping.

The advert had the words "I wish I had breast cancer" as the headline and my immediate thought was that this must be some disguised promotional campaign for breast cancer itself. In some ways it was. However, further reading told me that in fact, this was a part of a campaign to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer. The hard hitting "sell" of the advertorial, along with the emotive photograph of a dying patient, was seemingly attempting to convey how those suffering from pancreatic cancer would wish that they could effectively swap their cancer for either breast cancer, testicular cancer or cervical cancer; all of which have stronger survival rates than pancreatic. I got it. I understood the "message" and am well aware that one of the prime objectives within an advertisement of this nature is often to shock. However, I feel that "they" (i.e. those who commissioned the advert) delivered their message with the wrong tone and approach. No cancer is the same for any two patients and statistics, which this campaign relies so heavily on for its justification, bare no relevance to the individual, for every single patient has the ability to set prescience with their own illness and thus become their own statistic.

There has been much discussion surrounding this advert within the media and editorial spectrum over the past couple of weeks and, i'm adamant that this was a key objective of the campaign - to get people talking - and will subsequently be viewed as a successful campaign. The age-old adage of there being 'no such thing as bad publicity' immediately springs to mind. I  feel that the people at the centre of these illnesses are the ones who are indeed being poorly portrayed and represented. Whilst you cannot hide behind the scientific and  statistical facts that support the mortality rate of those suffering pancreatic cancer, I do not feel that comprising a campaign for a purely hypothetical 'wish-list' and 'swapsie' scenario is the best way forward. Instead, this could potentially cause friction amongst those who fundraise for the cause and not to mention disharmony between cancer patients themselves. 

Quite simply there is no winner with cancer. Indeed if there were wishes given out to patients with pancreatic cancer I'm sure they would opt to not have cancer at all as opposed to wish they could switch their illness with another seemingly more favourable disease. This may seem somewhat futile to say, but it is perhaps no more futile than the fruitless ideology of being able to switch and replace one cancer for another.

Having both experienced cancer first-hand as well as having spent many hours speaking, helping, consoling and interacting with others battling a vast array of different malignancies, I have found that no matter what cancer one is battling to overcome it will undoubtedly bring stress, trauma, anxiety, tremendous sadness and in many cases loss. Cancer patients unite in their battle for each battle is personal to them. No one should ever feel the need to consider themselves a statistic as a patient but an individual instead. The name and type of a disease is personal to each person, an affiliation, sense of ownership or identity can often be made with the illness, one that a patient, their friends, family or loved one  will hold with themselves forever. Therefore, a campaign that seemingly promotes a hierarchy or leader board of success really hits a sour note in my opinion. I found myself left feeling how I'd much rather have read about what the symptoms of pancreatic cancer are and how likely it is that one can develop the illness. 

I realise that such an advert would more than likely not have made me write this blog - and I'm only too happy to help in this very small way promote pancreatic cancer and the need for more awareness, I just personally wouldn't choose to go tribal with a disease that can ultimately tear families apart, no matter what the type or classification. 

JR

For more information about pancreatic cancer visit www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk

I was recently invited to give a talk at Queen's Manor primary school in West London to discuss the importance of setting yourself goals and achieving them. The talk given to the class of 7 and 8 year olds was orchestrated by one of my closest friends Catherine whose objective was to translate the importance of having aspirations and goals to achieve in life. The premise of the talk was for me to discuss how, after overcoming leukaemia, I have since participated in various events to help raise money for leukaemia charities and was subsequently chosen to carry the Olympic Torch at the London 2012 games. The children would then take notes and fire questions at me - which they duly did. 

I felt it was important to engage the children as much as possible - and with the direction of 'Miss Powell' I fended off some very interesting questions indeed. At one stage, after I'd discussed how I had trained myself to first complete the London Marathon, and the dedication, hard work and strength of mind it took to get through it, Catherine asked the children how they think it would feel to achieve a goal that I had set myself. Of all the answers there was one that stood out from a young girl who explained how she thought it would make one feel "Stronger as a person". I was extremely impressed by the maturity of the answer for someone so young. The girl proceeded to support her comment by stating how being stronger after achieving your goal would enable you to  "be better at other things". I couldn't have answered it better myself. She was absolutely spot on with her comments and, as such, sent me off on a tangent about how I have since tried to apply what I learnt through overcoming  my goals to other areas of my life. The young girl was duly awarded for her great response to Miss Powell's question by being moved up to the "gold zone" on the behaviour wall.

The day was wrapped up by  showcasing the Olympic torch I had brought along around the classroom. After speaking briefly about how I was nominated and subsequently chosen to carry the torch - each child took a turn holding the gold plated flame carrier and each one clearly showing how pleased and excited they were.

The visit was certainly somewhat of a cathartic experience for myself. I felt almost a pang of selfishness as I walked out of the gates of Queen's Manor primary school by virtue of the fact  I felt like I'd personally accomplished something by talking to the class and that I had indeed, achieved a personal goal myself. 

JR

I  was invited to give a short message of thanks to the 'Unstoppable' supporters of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research for all their hard work throughout the past year. The video was show at the Sports awards evening in Central London last week.

I can be found about 2 minutes in and suitably placed between TV presenter Craig Doyle and Olympic Gold medallist Dani King. 

JR

‘A balanced diet is a cake in each hand,’ or so the saying goes. Some people, myself included take this message quite literally, which is how The Great Mount Carmel Bake Off came to be…From a desire to help, to raise money and of course to have the ‘unfortunate’ task of eating lots of delicious treats in the spirit of fun to help a wonderful charity, BPositive, to what has now become a much anticipated part of school life (in the staffroom at least!)

Back in September a group of like-minded cake lovers at school decided that we would put our love of baking to good use. On the first Monday of every subsequent month the plan is that we all rise (!) to the challenge laid before us. There is often a theme and always a set of strict rules to adhere to! The willing volunteers pay £2 to enter their effort and anyone who wants to have a taste and cast their vote pays £1 to sample a slice of every single entry. I know, this sounds like a tough way to spend a Monday break-time, sampling delicious cakes and bakes but as I said before, the staff at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic First School in Redditch are always happy to oblige! The entrees are anonymous. To ensure this remains the case we have all invested in the same clear lidded, neutral looking container for transporting the goodies into school incognito! That’s right, ‘keeping Tupperware in business since 2013!’

October was the first bake off and arguably the hardest. As it was Autumn, (we try to think of the food of the seasons the way the professionals do!) we had a butternut squash/pumpkin theme. You could make whatever you wanted as long as it contained one of those as the main ingredient. We had butternut squash cakes, pumpkin scones, muffins and breads, cakes and bakes, sweet and savoury alike. In fact my kitchen still holds a slight orange tinge to this day!

November came the obvious ‘Bonfire’ theme and sparks flew that month I can tell you. Who’d have thought popping candy could cause such hysteria!?  The winner of each bake off as voted by friends and colleagues wins a modest bar of chocolate as a token of their success and the money remains in a pot to be shared between three charities close to the hearts of the staff in this close-knit community at Mount Carmel.

December and Christmas, those of you who are not familiar with Primary School at this time of year need only imagine how busy it gets with Masses and Nativity plays and Carol Services and all that goes in to prepare young children for this exciting time. So you would be forgiven for thinking that we would put the bake off on hold for this month…NO WAY! December came the ‘Yule Log’ challenge, a supposedly simple swiss roll style log! I can honestly say this bake off caused me the most difficulty, there was more than one attempt made at rolling this ‘simple’ sponge cake into the log shape and in fact the person who suggested this idea and told us all it was so simple as she made one at school actually immortalised her first attempt in photographs for all the facebook world to see as it resembled a catastrophic attempt at digging the garden over! (Not to me Lynn, you know I could see the diamond in the rough...no offence J )

January, Burns night, the obvious choice was shortbread. The rules were it must be Scottish, all butter shortbread, cut into bite-size pieces for sampling. This was the most delicious bake off to me, a massive shortbread fan and definitely the closest I’ve ever come to winning (or getting any votes I’m sure!)

This brings us to this coming bake off. What could be suitable for this romantic month of St Valentine’s Day? Hearts and flowers? Not for us… we are doing a tray bake, of any kind, any flavour, and I for one, can’t wait! The money we have raised so far is amazing considering we are just one tiny little school. I guess it goes to show, give a bunch of teachers a plate of cakes and we’ll show you the money!

At Mount Carmel we do a lot for charity but this for me feels like a personal, humbling activity. Every month these wonderful ladies go to the effort and spend their own time and money to produce a wonderful array of treats to raise money to support the charity my own brother, Jonjo, has set up to help others through their battle with Leukaemia. These same ladies are the ones who were there every day, by my side, when Jonjo was himself battling this disease. It never fails to amaze me how kind and caring they all are and I would like to thank them all for what they continue to do. How can I ever thank them enough? A piece of cake maybe..?

AMR

Poster for the next Bpositive Bake-Off at  Mount Carmel 

Anyone who lives in London and has to suffer the tubes in a morning will tell you that aside from reading the free Metro or Evening Standard newspaper and picking up the complimentary Sport or TimeOut supplements, their commute is perhaps not the most enjoyable experience. 

In a bid to avoid moaning or encourage people to smile through their journey to work, (as I know that my own mind, body and soul doesn't start functioning until I've had my morning coffee with two sugars from the guys at my local Cafe Nero), I do, however, think there's an opportunity to be had in maximising the time spent underground. My commute is typically an one hour door-to-door journey, slowly trudging along the district line as the (what can only be described as) wagon I'm sat on attempts to get me from West To East London. 

Those 40mins spent sat down are usually consumed with my head being buried within the aforementioned supplements, flicking my way through the same articles day after day. That's why I have decided to make a New Year's' revolution to myself; that I will be more productive with my commute as often as possible. This may be through dedicating more time to writing, thinking and acting positively towards all things Bpositive. Creating content for blogs (as I am just now), making photo edits, jotting down notes, things to do, lists, scribbling down ideas, songs of the week suggestions, thoughts and plans etc - whatever it is just do it and be more productive - that's my goal.

There's certainly a window of opportunity with my combined 80 minute daily commute to be of more use to myself and more effective to the things around me - and one I aim to try and fulfil throughout the year. So watch this space, get on board and mind the gaps in these forthcoming ramblings from the district line. 

Chances are I'm being held at a red signal at Earl's Court.

JR